When We Were Young
by mmlr
Summary: Amalia Kane left Santo Padre behind 8 years ago and never looked back. Almost. Now years later with a successful job and a handsome fiancee, an unexpected phone call threatens to shatter the life she worked hard to build. Traveling home, she cannot avoid reliving the memories and events that she believed she had buried. AngelXOC
1. Chapter 1

**This is an eventual Angel/OC. However, it's a slow burn fic. Beginning in the present day, then jumping back to the past and focusing on the protagonist Amalia and her relationship with the Reyes family through the years before concluding back in the present. P****rojected to run about thirty chapters. Comments and Reviews are life! xo **

**June 2018**

Present Day

The office phone rang once.

Reaching over the stack of court filings on her desk Amalia grabbed the large conference line distractedly. "This is Amalia." Her voice sounding a little sharper than she had intended, it was a Sunday after all, 10 a.m. on a Sunday, but still.

"Hi, Ms. Kane," answered Carrie, the new, perky receptionist for the Justice Department's White Collar Division. "I have a Dr. Ellis on the phone for you."

"I'm sorry what?" She said only half listening as she continued to type up file notations.

"Um" Amalia could hear the shuffling of papers on the other end as Carrie looked for something. She was young and upbeat but really needed to work on her professionalism, Amalia thought absently.

"A Dr. Steven Ellis, he's calling from Santo Padre Regional Medical Center…"

Santo Padre. Her heart clenched. Carrie had her full attention now.

"…he's calling about…"

"Put him through." Her sharp interruption cut Carrie off immediately.

"Yes, right away Ms. Kane."

She replaced the receiver and took a deep breath, staring at the large number one on the conference line. A moment later her phone began to beep and the light flashed red. Exhaling her earlier breath, she picked up the line. "This is Amalia Kane."

"Yes, hi Ms. Kane." The clinical voice on the other line waited a breath clearly expecting an acknowledgment. When she remained silent, he continued. "I'm Dr. Steven Ellis, calling from Santo Padre Regional Medical Center." The voice on the other line stopped again awaiting a response.

"What happened?" Amalia clenched her hand into a fist, a sick sense of dread washing over her as she stared at the blinking number one.

"I'm calling about a patient who was admitted this morning, a Ms. Dora Santos; she has you listed as her emergency contact and I…"

She cut him off immediately, "What happened? Is she alright?" Amalia could not help the strain that flooded her voice.

"I'm afraid she suffered a heart attack this morning. We have her stabilized, but we are rushing her into surgery to assess the extent of the blockage and the damage. She does not have an advanced directive on file with us and we need to discuss what to do in the event that…" He left the sentence hanging, silence stretched over the line as the seconds ticked by.

Amalia's knees buckled, her hand reaching out as she leaned forward to catch herself, spilling her steaming cup of coffee all over the recent interrogatory copies from the Mickelson case.

"Shit!"

"I'm sorry?" The doctor queried on the other end of the line.

"Anything you have to do doctor, anything to save..." She could not finish that sentence. Taking a breath, she collected herself. I'll be on the next flight out. Please let me know as soon as she is out of surgery, I…" She paused a moment, "please, take care of her…please."

The voice on the other end lost the clinical tone that had been an undercurrent for most of the conversation. "We'll do all that we can."

"Thank you." With that, the line went dead. She blinked for a moment staring out her office window at the fluffy white clouds that dotted the sky, hinting at an afternoon shower. It was June, and though the temperature has just beginning to climb, it would be blistering today. She could just see the top of the Washington Monument and the throngs of tourists already lining up for the Newseum. She never understood why tourists chose summer to visit the nation's capital; summer in D.C. had to be one of the worst times all year.

"Shit!" The sting of hot liquid burning her thigh brought her back to the present. "Shit." Grabbing the dripping Mickelson files, she shook off the excess liquid as best as she could. Good thing, these were only copies. Her notes were a lost cause, but there was nothing that she could do about that.

"Ok" She muttered to herself. Mentally cataloging everything, she had to do as quickly as possible to get herself on the next flight out of DCA or Dulles. Picking up the phone, she called Carrie back.

"Ms. Kane, what can I…"

Amalia cut her off.

"Carrie can you put a call through to Adela in H.R.? I need to speak with her regarding Family Medical Leave ASAP."

"Um, sure."

Amalia continued, "I'm stepping out of the office for the next few minutes, I need to speak with Daniel. If you don't get me, patch Adela through to my voicemail."

"Sure, Ms. Kane. Anything else? I hope everything is ok" Carrie's voice had lost some of its usual perky quality as she continued to speak but her query was sincere.

"No, that's all for the moment." She paused a second, "Thank you, Carrie."

"No problem Ms. Kane."

Pushing away from her desk, Amalia grabbed the Mickelson file, along with the dripping interrogatories and headed to see Daniel Nisman, her boss at the DOJ's White Collar Division. The halls were empty as she walked down the vast stone corridor. Most government workers would not be caught dead in the office after 5 p.m. on a weekday, let alone on a Sunday morning. However, with the complex federal trial of White, Stone, and Monahan, the disgraced K Street Lobbying firm quickly approaching, this had become her weekend norm for the last few months.

Knocking on Daniel's door, she saw that he was on the phone. However, after glancing in her direction, he motioned her in and she closed the door. Daniel Nisman was a venerable force to be reckoned with in the hallowed halls of the DOJ. A tall, slim, mid-50's New York transplant with dark brown hair, graying at the temples and blue hawkish eyes. He brokered no bullshit. He was a tough, no non-sense boss, but he was fair and worked just as hard as the attorney's that he supervised. Daniel had hired her as an intern her 2L summer in law school, more than mildly surprised that the pretty Stanford law student had decided to pursue a career in the public sector, and in D.C. of all places, thousands of miles away from the golden state she called home. Lawyers knew the importance of the 2L summer job as it usually lead to full-time employment upon graduation. The competition for a summer hire at a law firm was huge, and he was surprised to say the least that the high achieving Amalia had not chosen a career path in one of the monolithic law firms in L.A. or even New York. Her looks had not hurt, he thought absently. But once she had accepted the job, he said no more on the subject. Her ease with co-workers and litigation skills had received quite a bit of praise within the DOJ and he was pleased that he was the one responsible for her rise at the agency.

"That was Mickelson's lawyer, they're trying to prolong discovery," Daniel grumbled. "Bunch of bullshit, but they're attempting a stall again." He sat down in his oversized chair and rubbed his eyes absently. "Have you finished reviewing the interrogatories that we received last night?" He said, eyeing the case files clutched in her arms.

"That's partly why I'm here," Amalia said. "I need to take FMLA leave," she said glancing at her watch, "starting in about 30 minutes."

Daniel's eyes had gotten wide. "I'm sorry come again."

Amalia blew out a sigh, "it's a family thing, I…I have to get on the next plane out to California tonight."

Daniel assessed her critically. She never mentioned family, ever.

"Look," she said continuing, "I fully understand that this is quite possibly the worst timing imaginable, but I have to go. Before heading over here, I had Carrie call Adela in H.R., I'm not sure that she'll be able to reach her, but I need to see how much time I have stored and…." She let the sentence hang.

Daniel was still considering her with grave eyes.

"You're right," he said with a scowl. "This is the worst possible time that you could leave, but…" his blue eyes softened. "If it's that serious, of course, you take leave. I'll have to okay the official paperwork of course, but I'll have Adela email over everything if she hasn't gotten ahold of you by start of business Monday. I'll personally fast track the paperwork."

"Thank you, Daniel, I…" Amalia let out an unconscious sigh she had not realized that she had been holding.

"Amalia, what's going on? You barely mention your family." There was legitimate concern in his eyes as he assessed her.

"It's…it's my Nana," she coughed the endearment choking her, "my grandma, she's had a heart attack. The doctor called me a few minutes ago. They don't know how bad it is, and they're rushing her into surgery now. I'm not sure how long I'll need, I just, I need to see her and I don't…" Her voice had gotten heavy and she cleared her throat to cover up its stickiness.

Daniel shook his head, "you're never sick, and hardly take vacation days, except for those trips out that California prison every few months." Amalia's head shot up, unconcealed surprise in her eyes. "Yes," he said before she could ask. "I know about those trips. Uncle Sam's curiosity gets peaked when one of his DOJ employees pays multiple trips to an inmate in San Quentin."

Amalia's cheeks flamed.

"The point is that I don't give a shit about that," he said dismissively waving his hand in the air. "What you do on your own time is your own business. Look, what I'm trying to say, is that you're a hard worker, and I know that if this wasn't serious you wouldn't be asking. I know that you have at least three months in vacation time alone, and as much as it pains me to say this, you take the time you need."

"Thank you Daniel, I really appreciate it." Clearing her throat, she began to rise, back to business mode and pushing her emotions aside. "I'll drop the remaining files off with Reggie, and Harvey is up to speed on where we are with the depositions. I can update the rest of the team inflight."

"Good, now go, and close the door on your way out."

She offered him a tight smile and headed for the door.

X

Amalia was back at her apartment an hour and a half later and running around trying to pack. She had checked flights on the short Uber ride over from the office, and the earliest flight she was able to book was a 5 pm out of DCA into San Diego. With the time change, the straight flight would put her into San Diego at 8 p.m., but by the time she rented a car and drove the hour out to Santo Padre, she prayed that she would be at the hospital by 11 p.m. She still had three hours before she needed to leave for the airport, but a growing sense of urgency pervaded each of her decisions, so she hurried.

Thirty minutes later, she placed both her suitcase and shoulder bag by the door. Glancing at the clock, it was only 1 p.m. Even with traffic; she wouldn't need to leave until 3:30 p.m. running a hand through her long red hair, she felt a tug and winced as the large, twinkling diamond on her right ring finger caught. "Fuck," she cursed under her breath. In her singled focus to wrap up work and pack, she had completely forgotten to call Kenneth. "Fuck," she whispered again.

Kenneth Carson Wells was her live in boyfriend, turned fiancée. The two had met shortly after Amalia had first moved to D.C. two years ago. Fresh out of law school and alone in a new city, she looked up and connected with a Stanford alumni group in the hopes of meeting new people. She met Kenneth her first night at an impromptu alumni gathering at a bar downtown to watch the Stanford/Berkley game. She had noticed him right away, tall with blonde hair and icy blue eyes; he was the epitome of an east coast prep school jock and looked like he had just stepped off the cover of a Ralph Lauren cover. It still brought an unbidden smile to her lips when she thought back to their first encounter. What in D.C. was a well-known flirting ritual had felt to her like a job interview. Introductions, questions about where she had gone to school, where she worked, who she knew, and an exchange of business cards, she hadn't had hers yet and felt a bit ridiculous scribbling her information on the back of a napkin. She did not think anything more of their encounter until she had received a call from him a few days later asking her out to dinner. She was more comfortable with it now, but she still hated the pervasive qualifiers that came with meeting working professionals in this city.

Pulling out her phone, she took a deep breath. He wouldn't be happy. They were supposed to meet his parents in Connecticut this weekend to look at venues for the wedding. Kenneth had popped the question four months ago during an intimate dinner at one of their favorite restaurants downtown. She would be lying if she said that she wasn't expecting it. They had been together for almost two years. She had grown close with his parents who were thrilled that their eldest son had decided to settle down. His mother had burst into tears when they had called, ecstatic at the prospect of grandchildren. Kenneth had even met Dora, never in Santo Padre, but they flew out to California the last two Thanksgivings and spent Christmas in San Diego with her daughters and their kids. When he had asked, she knew that she would say yes, they had talked about building a life together, of kids, and about marriage. They were on the same page about the future and about their careers.

However, after he told her that he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, for the briefest of seconds, no more than the space of a moment really, her heart had clenched. As he gazed at her, she had seen another set of eyes. Not icy blue, but a deep, warm, chocolate color. She was not sitting in a beautiful candle lit restaurant in downtown D.C., dressed in a finely tailored black dress. Instead, she was outside, curled against a solid muscular chest, laying on a dusty old blanket under the stars somewhere near the U.S./Mexico border. The hand entwined with hers wasn't white, cool, and smooth with perfectly manicured nails. Instead, it was brown, rough, and callused from hours spent working in a garage.

_I love you quiriña._

I love you Amalia.

Clenching her eyes shut, she bid the memory away to where it belong and had immediately said yes. They had come home and made love in their large king bed and it was perfect, and tender, and sweet, and wonderful. After Kenneth had drifted off, she held the ring up, watching as the large diamond caught the ambient lights from the city between the curtains. The ring he slid onto her finger was beautiful; there was no doubt about it. It was huge and sparkled brilliantly when it caught the light. It was stunning, her co-workers and friends had oohed and awed over it for days that first week back at work. But, gazing at it in bed that first night with Kenneth lightly snoring beside her she wondered, did he really think that this would be perfect for her? She loved it, but given a choice, she would have picked something smaller, something more subtle. It was so large, almost as if he wanted to announce to everyone that she was his. It was an unfair thought; and she had only it once the night that he proposed.

Shaking her head and grounding herself firmly back in the present Amalia dialed his personal number. It went straight to voicemail. "Crap," he had unofficial meetings on the Hill all afternoon in advance of the new Farming Bill coming before the House on Monday. She hung up before the recording started. Biting her lip, Amalia called his office.

"Offices of Black and Case, this Cassandra speaking, how may I direct your call?"

"Hi Cassandra, this is Amalia Kane, is Kenneth in this afternoon?"

"Oh Ms. Kane, Mr. Wells stepped out this morning to meet with Senator Porter's aid and left instructions to forward all of his messages. I do not believe that he will be back for the rest of the day."

"Cassandra, you know that you can call me Amalia right?" She had attended countless corporate functions and company-wide holiday parties in addition to calling Kenneth's office for almost two years now, yet the polite secretary had never once referred to her as anything other than Ms. Kane.

"Yes, Ms. Kane, I will take that under advisement." She was not sure, but Amalia thought she could detect the faintest hint of humor in the older woman's reply. "Was there a message that you wanted me to take?"

Amalia hesitated for a brief moment, before deciding, "No, that's ok Cassandra, thank you."

"Not a problem Ms. Kane, have a good afternoon."

"You to."

Ending the call, she redialed Kenneth's number. Again, it went straight to voicemail. This was not how she wanted to communicate the fact that she would be gone when he got home, but she would have to make due. The phone beeped the beginning of the message, "Hey its, me" she waited a moment before continuing. "I had a family emergency come up this morning, it's Nana Dora. She had a heart attack this morning. I…I don't know much, I got the call from the doctor at work this morning. I took leave this afternoon from work and talked to Daniel, but I'm on the next flight out to San Diego from DCA at 5 tonight. Please tell your parents how sorry I am that I can't make it up this weekend, I…I'll call you as soon as I land. I love you." With that, she ended the call.

Slipping her phone back into her purse, she looked at the clock again. 1:30. she still had two hours. Walking back into the bedroom she glanced in the mirror. She really could do with a shower. They had been out with friends late last night and she had been so tired that she had forgone the shower this morning in the hopes of making it to the office by 7 a.m. Well she had time now. Stripping quickly she got in. She had packed most of her primary toilettes in the suitcase out in the hall, but because of Kenneth's preference for unisex brands, she was able to use his shampoo and conditioner. Absent-mindedly she let her mind wander as she went through the motions of lathering and rinsing her hair.

_"Quiriña? Nana what does that even mean?"_

_Ha!" Dora laughed as she stood over the tiny stove peeling potatoes for dinner. "Who called you that chica?"_

_"EZ's jerk of a brother" she had huffed, setting her textbooks down on the kitchen table with a thud._

_"Ah, Felipe's boy no?" Dora's eyes held a twinkle, though it was unclear whether this was from the onion she had cut earlier or not._

_"You sure that's what he said Mira?"_

_"Ya, Amalia replied opening her Geometry and sitting down. "I asked him what Quiriña meant and he just laughed."_

_"Haha, it's gibberish chica."_

_"I figured, god he's such an asshole."_

_"Mira! Language aye! Not in this house."_

_"Sorry, Nana." Amalia said sheepishly._

_"Aye, ok, now back to the school work huh."_

_"Yes, Nana."_

Turning off the water and stepping out of the shower, she quickly towel dried her hair as she stood in front of the mirror. She hadn't been back to Santo Padre since, well since before Emily's wedding two years ago and that hadn't even really counted. She had flown in for Christmas and only driven up to pick up Dora so they could spend Christmas with her daughters back in San Diego. A sick feeling settled in her gut. Guilt. She knew what it was. It would prickle at her from time to time when she had a moment alone to breathe during the workday. She still called every other day, had one of Dora's grandchildren set up Skype so that she and Kenneth could share the engagement, and show her the ring. But, she should have visited more, should have driven down to see Dora, taken an extra day every couple of month when she flew out to visit the prison…

"I'm sorry Nana," she whispered to the empty bathroom. "I'm sorry…" She didn't like to dwell on her reluctance to visit, the reason she avoided the tiny town that had been her home all throughout junior high and high school. But that didn't matter now, she was going home and no matter what she would stay as long as Dora needed her. With a few final yanks of the brush through her slightly curling hair, she moved to the bedroom to get dressed. Once she had changed, she headed back out to the living room to check her phone. Nothing from the hospital and nothing from Kenneth, although she noticed a missed call on her screen from a number that she didn't recognize. Thinking that it could still be from the hospital, Amalia tapped the number and hit the call button. She paced for a moment as the line rang, once, twice, three times, before the recording picked up.

"Carniceria Reyes, please leave a message and we'll…"

She hung up immediately her heart pounding. She would recognize that gruff measured voice anywhere. That voice and the man behind it had patiently helped her review for many tests throughout high school, stood as a silent sounding board when she practiced her mock trial closing arguments, and exasperatedly scolded her when she was caught doing something she knew she shouldn't, usually because one of his two cheeky sons had thought it was a good idea at the time…she would recognize Felipe's voice anywhere.

She was not ready to call.

Not yet.

She sighed as she rubbed a hand over her face. She had tried to segment her life. Not consciously at first, but it had been so easy to move forward and not to look back. So, that was what she had continued to do. Her past and her present. They had been kept so separate, with only a few strings connecting the two. Dora and her trips out to San Quentin, and even Emily at first before her marriage and her husband's business caused them to drift. There had been more people who had cared for her, was it really so easy for her to just shut them out? Cut them off slowly until she did not think about the people and places that had meant so much to her. She looked at the number on the screen again. She would go crazy if she had to just sit here and wait. "Fuck it." Heading back into the bedroom she threw on her jacket and headed out the door.

She was going home.

X

She usually did not mind flying it; was not bad. With her laptop and the customary pile of paperwork, the hours between coasts usually flew by. However, she had managed to send off all her required staff memos and the FMLA paperwork to Daniel and Adela within the first hours of the flight. Now she just felt anxious. The overly friendly businessman sitting next to her in 10B did not help. The fact that she was furiously typing out emails nor the giant sparkler on her were deterrents. Typically she would have told a guy like him to fuck off. However, the fact that they still had four hours crammed together did not make her feel optimistic about that option. However, lucky enough for her one of the flight attendants took pity and continued to entertain the man and ply him with alcohol.

Slipping in her earbuds, she turned up the music and closed her eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**I apologize in advance, I am working with high school level Spanish and am about a decade out of practice! There are translations later so please forgive the incorrect conjugation. Feedback and constructive criticism always welcome! XO**

**Thirteen Years Earlier**

**August 2005**

"Nana can't I just stay home?" Amalia pouted pushing the chicken and rice around her plate without taking a bite.

"No chica, now finish your food eh? The bus will be here soon."

"Please?" she asked, the desperation that she had managed to hide for most of the summer creeping into her voice. "I'm not going to know anyone and they've all been in junior high together for a year already. Please, Nana, I don't want to." As much as the teenager tried to hide it, her large green eyes began to well with tears. "Can't I just stay home with you?"

The girl's plea tugged at Dora's heartstrings. She had let her stay home with her all summer and had not pushed her to go out and make friends, readily accepting the fibs of wanting to unpack and catch up on reading. While she was selfishly glad to keep her close those months after the accident, Dora knew that she needed to make friends in this new life to be happy. "No chica, you've stayed home all summer. And besides, if you don't go tomorrow you'll just have to go mañana to do it; just no one else will feel new too eh?" She had tried to make light of the conversation, to assuage the girl's fears as well as her own. She leaned forward and took Amalia's cheeks in between her hands. "Mira, you are smart and brave, I know that this is scary for you. A new town, a new home, but they will love you." Amalia still looked unsure. "Come here chica." Dora pushed her chair out and motioned for her to come sit in her lap.

"Nana, I'm too big, I'm going to squash you."

"What? Pft." The old woman pretended to look offended. "What, you're too old to sit in my lap eh?"

"Nana," Amalia started to smile.

"Aye Mira, too embarrassed? You no longer mi chica eh?" The old lady chuckled.

Amalia would always be her little girl, it did not matter how old she was. From the moment that the Kane's had brought her home from the hospital, all bruised, and so tiny she could fit in the palm of her hand she had loved her. Dora Santos had started working for John and Julia Kane fourteen years ago before Amalia was even a twinkle in her mother's eye. She had heard from her sister that a family from the local church had been inquiring around needing help with some light household work during the week. The couple had just moved to the area and the larger house coupled with their hectic work schedules was proving to be more than they could manage. She had arrived at the modest suburban San Diego home, unsure of what to expect. When she rang the doorbell, a rather harried looking young man opened the door.

"Eh, um eres Dora Santos?" He attempted.

She smiled despite herself, "I speak English Señor."

"Oh, um right." He looked a bit crestfallen. "I speak a bit of Spanish, took it in high school. Julia says that it's elementary level, but I think I've got it down a bit more than that. Um, por favor pasa?" He stepped back with a large smile on his face. Clearly hoping that his point had been made correctly.

"Yes, thank you," she said with a chuckle walking through the door.

"Oh, right, sorry" the man stuck out his large hand, "John Kane. It's a pleasure to meet you!" He said with a huge smile.

Dora shook his hand; he had a good handshake, firm and friendly. She always judged a man based on his handshake.

"Julia!" He hollered as he walked Dora through the entrance hall still full of boxes and packing material.

As she was lead into the bright living room, she noticed a young woman making her way down the stairs. The woman was about the same height as her husband with long blonde hair that brushed her mid back.

"Ah, this is Julia, my wife," the man turned to indicate the woman with a wide smile.

"Hello, you must be Ms. Santos," she said with a smile. "Thank you so much for coming, we really appreciate you taking the time. Please," she said indicating for Dora to have a seat on one of the large sofas.

"Ms. Santos, we're looking for a little bit of help during the week." Mr. Kane began. "You see, we both work full time, Julia is a nurse over at memorial hospital and well I'm with the IRS but taking evening class four days a week to get my CPA license and well, with the new house and everything it's just a lot at the moment."

Dora looked at the young couple, they both looked happy but, she searched their faces, tired and incredibly stressed. She could see that both of their smiles were a little bit too bright, a little bit too brittle. Mr. Kane, despite his warm eyes, had dark circles below them and his young wife looked just as exhausted. She did not know much about the couple but felt pity for them. Dora's own husband had died ten years before, and her children were grown now, but she remembered what it was like starting out the first few years of married life. Trying to build a life together, trying to manage. It was hard back then and she could see from the couple's faces that it was hard now. She had not necessarily been looking to start working again. She had been a teacher in Nicaragua, but after her husband had died, her children moved to the United States and married, her sister had convinced her not to stay.

Looking at the young couple again, she offered them a warm smile, "okay."

"Really?" Mr. Kane asked shocked. "Thank you, thank you," he said standing to grab her hands. "You won't regret it."

She never had.

She began working for Julia and John four days a week, making the hour-long commute from Santo Padre to San Diego in the early mornings and returning home in the evenings. She had helped them settle into their new home, unpacking, and cleaning as she went. After a few months when she noticed that Mr. Kane began to look skinnier, she gently chided him about becoming skin and bones. He would chuckle a tired, but good-humored laugh and say that he had forgotten to grab something. When she noticed that it was not getting better, she slowly began buying groceries and cooking dinner in the evenings, leaving the food simmering low on the stove for when Julia came home. Each morning John would tell her on his way out the door that she did not need to make the extra effort and that, he was doing just fine with slim fast bars. That he and Julia did not expect her to do more than just help clean a bit. However, he would eat nonetheless, and when her pay increased by an extra hundred dollars each week she did not say anything. The arrangement continued in relatively the same fashion for almost two years, but everything changed when little squalling Amalia had arrived. She was so tiny that instead of cry, she would bleat, almost like a little sheep. The Kane's had offered to take her on full time as a nanny and she had readily agreed.

She began living with the family Monday through Friday and returning home to Santo Padre Friday evenings. Her sister would chide her, "ya has criado tres bebés? Why number four?" But she didn't mind. She loved the little girl. She would sing to her, play with her, and feed her. As she got older, Dora was there for her first step, her first lost tooth, and her first big girl dive off the diving board. She loved her, and Amalia loved her with the fierce love that only a child can give. "Te amo Nana!" She would say when Dora would catch her stealing caramel candies out of her room. "Yo también te amo, pero dale a Mira que me dé esos dulces. Te vas a poner gordita." The little girl would shriek with laughter then run off down the hall.

Now, looking back into her large watery eyes, all Dora wanted to do was tell her that she did not have to go, but she had promised the Kanes that she would take care of their daughter, and that was a promise she would not break.

"Ah, Mira, I think I hear the bus."

A look of terror flashed across the girls face. "Eh, she said," clucking her under the chin "I see you tonight, chica."

Throwing her arms around her, Amalia gave Dora a tight squeeze, "te amo Nana" she whispered.

After Dora heard the door slam closed, she walked to the window looking at the long line of teens lined up for the bus. Her eyes grew misty for a moment as she watched the girl stand up straight and hold her head up high as she stepped onto the bus, disappearing from view. She was so young, too young to lose her parents like that. Moving to a new city, a new school, away from all of her friends. Her little one was strong though, if anyone could thrive, she could do it. "Silly old woman," Dora clucked to herself. Turning from the window, she busied herself with the house.

X

"Um, excuse, is anyone sitting here?" Amalia asked the petite brunette.

"Nope, just me!" The girl said with a bright smile.

"Thanks," Amalia said sliding into the hard seat.

"You're new right?" The girl said.

"Um, ya," Amalia replied tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'm Emily. Emily Thomas" she said.

"Hi, Amalia Kane."

"Amalia, pretty. Why did your parents name you that?"

"Um, not sure exactly. I think it was supposed to be spelled differently, but my dad messed up the spelling" Amalia replied, readjusting her Jansport backpack against the seat.

"Ha!" Emily laughed, "So kinda like Oprah?"

"Ya, something like that" Amalia grinned.

"So where did you transfer from?" Emily asked.

"San Diego actually."

"Wow," Emily exclaimed "lucky! By the beach?"

"Ya, not too far. My dad used to take me surfing sometimes."

"Geez, I wish I lived out there. It's so hot out here, and too freaking sandy!"

"It doesn't seem too bad," Amalia offered.

"Pfft, that's only because you just moved here. Trust me it gets worse. I can't wait to get out of this town."

Amalia just smiled, she understood the feeling.

"So," Emily continued, "what does your schedule look like?"

"Um," Amalia said unzipping her backpack and pulling out her class schedule, "Homeroom with Ms. Domingo?"

"Oh, nice! Me too!"

Amalia continued, "Algebra with Mr. Jefferies for second period."

"Algebra?" Emily asked. "Really?"

"Uh ya, that's what it says." Amalia was confused.

"Huh," said Emily "Algebra is usually a freshman class, cool, guess you'll be taking it at the high school."

"The high school?" inquired Amalia. "I thought that this was only 7th – 8th grade?"

"Well ya, technically," said Emily. "But, they're on the same campus. I mean the buildings are separate, but we share a gym for P.E. and sports ya know. So what other classes do you have?"

Amalia rattled off the rest of her course listing.

"Geez three, high school classes. That's pretty cool," Emily said after perusing her class list herself. "Algebra, Bio, and Freshman Lit. Those are all upper div. classes. You must be really smart or something."

"Ha! Or something." Amalia smirked, "not really, I mean I like to read and stuff. I think that the way that they structured classes was just different at my old school."

"Different how?"

"Well, we had uniforms for one thing."

"Gross, uniforms? Yikes, that sounds terrible!"

"It was," Amalia began to relax a bit describing how regimented everything had been. The rest of the bus ride passed in short chatty bursts as the girls discussed their mutual appreciation for music, namely classic rock bands, which coming from the fresh-faced Emily surprised Amalia a bit.

"Come on," Emily said as the bus pulled up to the front of the school and the rest of the students began to file off. "So like I was saying, the junior high and high school are sort of on the same campus but…" The rest of what Emily was saying drifted into the background as she took in her surroundings. There were students everywhere in the parking lot and loud music blasting from the different brightly colored cars. Some of the older looking guys were smoking and chatting in groups as various groups of girls hung around. "Hey, you with me?" Emily asked waving a hand in front of her face to get her attention.

"Huh, ya. Sorry, it's just really different from my old school."

Emily shot her a sympathetic look, "Ya I get that."

"Do the teachers really not care that people are smoking on campus?" Amalia cringed a bit after she said it, god she sounded naive.

Emily just grinned, "trust me, the teachers have a lot more to worry about than whether or not their students decide to suck on those cancer sticks. Last year Principal Jared caught two high school students…" Emily continued with the story, but Amalia was busy looking around at all the kids hanging outside. As the two of them crossed the parking lot towards the front of the school, she noticed a rather large group of older guys and girls huddling around a few guys on motorcycles. Most of the girls seemed to be angling for the attention of the guy casually lounging against the largest bike in the center. He was tall she could tell, even leaning back against the bike he was almost as tall as some of the others standing around. The muscular arms crossed across his chest displayed a few large tattoos on his tanned skin. She continued to take him in. He was wearing dark jeans and a plaid button-down with the sleeves ripped off, his lazy smile conveying his comfort at being at the center of the attentive swirl. As they got closer, Amalia noticed him casually reach out a muscular arm and wrap it around the nearest female. Amalia could not help her automatic eye roll as she noticed the older girl giggle and put up a pretense of pulling away before settling herself across his lap like a contented cat. She had been so caught up observing the group, the guy in particular, that she hadn't realized that she'd been openly staring. As they got even with the group, she saw the guy in the middle jerk his chin down, causing his aviators to slip to the bridge of his nose. He was looking right at her.

Shit!

She immediately jerked her head away and focused her attention forward. Just as they were about to pass, however, she heard a whistle. She ignored it, but it came again, just over her shoulder. "Aye gringa!" Emily and she both stopped. Amalia turned around slightly to look over her shoulder at the source of the call. The older guy was looking at her again, only this time it was not just him. The whole group had turned to focus their attention on her and Emily.

"You see something you like gringa?" He raised his thick eyebrows with a wry chuckle.

The whole group began to chuckle. Amalia could not see, but she was sure her cheeks had turned pink.

"Ey come on man don't tease the jail bait." One of the lanky guys behind the first said as he took a puff on his cigarette.

"Aye Coco, how's it?" His attention immediately averted to the lanky man behind him.

They turned back around, "asshole, I think that guys a junior." Emily said as once more they were pulled along in the crush of students.

"Yea?" Amalia asked.

"Ya, he's a starter on the basketball and baseball team. Remember I was saying earlier how Principal Jared almost caught two students in the Chem lab going at it?" Emily raised her eyebrows suggestively.

"Ew! Gross!" Amalia exclaimed. She had not been paying attention the first time Emily recounted the story. I guess he almost got expelled but somehow managed not to. I think it's because the team wouldn't do as well without one of their starters, but that's just me. Oh! I think he has a younger brother, my friend whose mom works in the cafeteria was saying that he went out for the football team and they want him as a starter! Apparently, he is the only freshman who has ever made it. Cool huh. Do you play any sports? We only have volleyball, basketball, and soccer in junior high, but in high school, there's baseball and softball."

"Yes actually," said Amalia. "I played volleyball at my old school and soccer, but I'm not sure if I'm going to go out for any teams this year."

"Oh come on," Emily said. "You definitely should! The volleyball team is ok, but our soccer team is really good! We won the junior regional last year. It's co-ed, but there are a couple of girls on it."

"Ya maybe," Amalia replied. Emily continued to chatter as she rushed Amalia along to homeroom, smiling and saying high to a plethora of faces as they walked down the hall.

Maybe, this year would not be so bad after all.

X

Amalia had been wrong. It was bad, and it was definitely going to get worse.

Homeroom had been great though, she sat next to Emily and Emily had introduced her to several other kids in their class. Everyone seemed nice, and they had all made plans to sit together at lunch, everyone curious about the new girl who was a surfer from San Diego. She had tried to correct Emily before she got going, however just as she tried to explain that she had only gone out a few times with her dad, the bell rang for second period. As she was rushed out the door in the crush of students, Emily said goodbye and ran off. It took Amalia a panicked moment to realize that she did not have the slightest clue where she was supposed to go. Her next class, Algebra was on the high school side, and to her, it seemed massive. Realizing that she only had ten minutes she hustled across the expanse of lawn that separated the two campuses. Looking at the class listing in her hand, she tried to figure out which room was 312.

However, she soon realized that the door numbering would not be much help, as only one in five seemed to have anything resembling a number inscribed.

Shit!

She began to panic. Panic in that way that only those on the first day of class panic when they realize that they will be walking into class late and everyone would stare. She quickly realized that the crowd around her was thinning and if she did not hustle, her nightmare would be fully realized.

Just then the second bell rang, heralding loud and clear the beginning of second period. Maybe she could figure out where the front office was. She could have them help point her in the direction of Mr. Jefferies Algebra class. However just as she turned around to start walking in the direction she reasonably believed to be the front of the high school, she saw two regrettably familiar figures sauntering down the corridor.

"Great," she muttered under her breath. There was nowhere for her to go.

Just then, the taller one took off his glasses and smiled, a lazy grin spreading across his wide mouth. "You following me gringa?"

"I think she is man," the lanky guy from earlier replied smiling.

The tall one continued to smirk. "Lost chica? You're a long way from elementary school."

Amalia rolled her eyes. "Heading to Algebra, thanks."

"Ohh smarty pants ya?" said the one she had heard called Coco. "Aye, maybe she can tutor you so you can count to more than just ten," he said clearly teasing his taller friend.

"Shut the fuck up," countered the tall one, his attention shortly diverted.

Amalia took the opportunity to step around the two and move down the hall. However, a second later the tall one called out to her again, "ay, gringa you taking the long way to Jefferies or what?" He asked still smiling.

"No, why?" queried Amalia, conscious of the minutes ticking by.

"Because you were standing right in front of his door a second ago," he laughed pointing to her right.

Annoyed, she could not help calling out a retort as she moved towards the door he had indicated, "Let me know if you need help counting to twenty, I hear the number after ten is eleven."

"Ha! Learn them smarts girl scout," the one called Coco said over his shoulder as the two continued their stroll down the hallway.

God what an asshole, she thought. The school was big enough, why did she have to run into him twice in one day. Glancing back towards the door she peeked through the glass window. Great, the teacher was already lecturing. With a steeling breathing, she pushed the door to the classroom open, "here goes nothing," she thought as the teacher stopped lecturing and every eye in the class turned to stare at her.

"Can I help you, Miss….?" He waited, his annoyance clearly conveyed.

"Kane. Amalia Kane." She said looking straight at him and avoiding the giggles from the rest of the class.

"Ah, well Ms. Kane, so nice of you to join us. Seeing as this is the first time that you've graced us with your presence, I will not mark this against you, however," he said looking at her pointedly, "do not make this a habit."

Amalia nodded.

"Now, please take a seat." He turned back towards the whiteboard. "Mr. Reyes, please get Ms. Kane up to speed," he said without sparing her another glance.

Amalia looked around, there was only one open seat towards the back next to a tall boy with short-cropped brown hair. He thankfully offered her a reassuring smile. She grinned in return and set her things down next to the small desk.

"Hi," he whispered, "I'm Ezekiel, but everyone just calls me EZ. We're on page 9, problem three."

"Thanks, EZ, I'm Amalia."

After her first initial mortification, the class passed by without incident. Mr. Jefferies lectured, providing examples to underscore his points and walked the students through several practice questions. She fell into a comfortable rhythm, and before she knew it, the bell rang signaling the end of second period. Bending to gather up her books, Amalia glanced over at EZ who was just slipping his backpack on.

"Hey EZ?" she said over the general chatter.

"Uh, ya what's up," he replied looking at her.

"You wouldn't happen to know where Ms. Gonzalez's bio 101 is? Do you?"

"Sure, I have her class next."

"Think you can point me in the right direction?" She asked with a grin.

"Ha, ya sure. Come on."

Slipping her backpack on, she followed him out the door. "Sorry bout Jefferies, he can be a bit of a hard-ass," said EZ, navigating his way around the crush of students.

"No worries, I figured that he would probably be a bit pissed. Walking in late wasn't exactly what I had planned my first day," Amalia said falling into step next to him.

"You're new right? You weren't in any of my classes last year." He replied with what Amalia thought was a twinkle of mirth in his voice.

"Ya, I just moved to Santo Padre about a month ago," Amalia replied opening the building door for him.

EZ shot her a quizzical look before walking in first, "isn't that supposed to go the other way?" he joked with a nod towards the door she was holding.

"Call me a feminist," Amalia teased as she followed him through the door.

EZ smirked. "So where did you move from?"

"San Diego," she said trying to pay attention to the doors that they were passing. She was a bit worried it would take her a few tries before she would be able to retrace her steps back here with ease.

"Why in the world you come here?" he asked, sending her a puzzled sideways look.

"Uh, it's a long story." she did not offer any further explanation.

"Ya well, maybe I can hear about it sometime," he smiled.

The two stopped right before a door she imaged was Bio, "ladies first" he grinned opening the door for her.

"Cute."

Entering the room Amalia saw that it was set up with multiple two-person tables all facing towards the whiteboard. There were quite a few empty seats and she was curious to see where EZ would sit.

Giving her a nudge, EZ glanced over, "partners?" he asked indicating a table in the back.

"Ya sure," she smiled walking toward the back of the classroom.

Much like Algebra before it, Bio passed in a breeze of listening and note-taking. Amalia noticed halfway through class that she was one of only a handful of students who actually seemed to be paying attention, the others either staring blankly at the teacher or texting covertly on their Nokia phones. Glancing over at EZ, she was surprised to see that he seemed just as interested as she was in what Ms. Gonzalez had to say. Glancing sideways, she took a moment to observe him. Objectively speaking he was kind of cute, tall, and though he was wearing a bagging Santo Padre Regional sweatshirt, she could tell that he definitely had some muscles hidden under there somewhere.

"Hey what?" she suddenly heard him whisper looking at her quizzically.

"Oh, what did she say the reading was for tonight?" Amalia fibbed beautifully.

"Uh 10-30," he said. Apparently completely oblivious to the fact that she had been appraising him.

"Huh," she thought, was he really that clueless? She offered a smile, "thanks."

Soon enough the bell rang, signaling the end of the class. As students began packing up, Ms. Gonzalez circulated a sign-up sheet for the students to confirm their partners for the semester.

"Thoughts?" Amalia asked picking up the sheet and glancing at EZ.

"Hey, as long as you don't make me dissect anything sounds good to me," he said taking the sheet from her and scribbling his name.

"No promises," she said grabbing it and signing her name next to his.

"So uh, what class do you have next?" he asked smiling again as they headed toward the door.

Amalia cringed.

"What was that for?" he asked, noticing her wince.

"Computer tech?"

He shot her a puzzled look, "isn't that an 8th-grade class?"

"So, I may or may not have forgotten to mention that I'm technically in 8th grade."

"Wait what?" he asked looking horrified.

"Seriously?" She asked giving him her full attention.

"Ha, give me a break," he said giving her a grin. "I'm not that much of a dick."

"The jury's still out," Amalia replied skeptically.

"Ouch. I'm nice!"

She just glared at him.

Truth?" he said.

"Please."

"Jefferies announced that some whiz kid 8th grader was joining this year and some of the class was taking bets to see how long it would take you to find the classroom."

"Ah," she said still looking annoyed, "hence the giggling?"

"Ya," he said pretending to look pained.

"Perfect."

"Relax, I don't think you were exactly what everyone had in mind."

"Huh," she said cocking her head to the side.

For some odd reason, it reminded EZ of a befuddled owl. "I dunno," he replied evasively.

"What?" She said more forcefully.

"Well, I think people were expecting some sort of nerdy dude with a junior Stephen Hawking's complex."

Amalia gave an overly dramatic gasp, "you know who Stephen Hawking is? I guess the pretty boy is smart after all!" She could not help the sass.

EZ smiled goofily, "aw you think I'm pretty?"

"I don't," she said" but they certainly seem to think so" Amalia smirked pointing towards a group of girls up ahead who had caught her attention a minute earlier because of their pointed giggling in EZ's direction.

Just as he glanced up, a pretty blonde with shoulder-length hair glided up towards them, "hi EZ," she said completely ignoring Amalia.

"Uh hi Crystal what's up?" he asked giving her an uncertain smile.

"So, I heard that you're first string starter with the varsity football team this year?" She batted her eyelashes dramatically and Amalia had to resist the urge to gag.

"Uh, yeah," EZ replied smiling stupidly.

"Can't wait to watch you play," she said with a suggestive smile before sauntering back to her friends who all looked over and whispered excitedly.

Amalia watched EZ who was still grinning like an idiot.

"So eloquent," she said sarcastically after the girl was out of earshot.

"What?" he replied. "She's in my brother's class and she knows who I am!"

Amalia rolled her eyes.

"You wouldn't understand," he said walking again, "you're only in 8th grade," he chuckled in her direction, clearly intending to annoy her.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Maybe, but unlike you, I'm still in command of English language basics when talking to someone of the opposite sex."

"I wasn't that bad, was I?" he asked a little self-consciously.

Amalia laughed, "you were fine, just maybe less 'uhs' next time ya?"

"Whatever."

"More importantly," Amalia said after a second had passed in silence, "you're the freshman that everyone is talking about?"

"Huh?"

"The freshman who made varsity?"

"Ya, how did you hear about that?" he asked looking at her.

"You're famous pretty boy, even us lowly junior high-ers heard about the freshman making the team."

"Guess you're lucky we're friends then huh?" he stated shooting her a grin.

"We're friends now?"

"Well, you have to help this 'pretty boy' pass bio right?" continuing to smirk.

"Funny," Amalia replied. "I distinctly remember you taking furious notes in both Algebra and Bio, so don't play the dumb card. I'm wise to you already."

"Guilty, I actually kind of like school." EZ pretended to look embarrassed.

"What a nerd," she deadpanned.

"Whatever Stephen Hawking."

"See that was my tip-off, "Amalia replied. "Brainy references for the win."

They both laughed.

"Ha! You're not too bad Kane."

"You neither Reyes."

"Shit!" Amalia said suddenly glancing up at the clock on the wall, "I gotta run."

"See you later junior high," he smirked.

"Ha, funny." She said beginning to walk off.

"Oh, wait! Hey EZ," she yelled after she had taken a few steps.

Hearing his name, he glanced back with a quizzical look.

"Any chance you know where English lit is?"

EZ just smiled, "6th period?"

"Uh, ya?"

"Guess we're destined to be friends then," I'll meet you back here after 5th period.

Amalia just smiled, "see ya!" She waved as she bounded off towards the lawn separating the junior high from the high school campus.

X

The rest of her day went smoothly, at lunch she found Emily with a group of students who were in her homeroom class. They talked about school, music, life in Santo Padre, and peppered Amalia with questions about San Diego and her life before Santo Padre. She was friendly, though evasive when it came to questions about her life before, however, no one seemed to notice and by the end of lunch she, Emily, and two other girls, Letty and Sarah, had plans to go to the movies that Friday.

After lunch, on the way to 5th period with Emily, Amalia remembered to tell her about EZ. "Oh hey," she remarked as they walked into Theater. "Remember that freshman that you were talking about? The one that made varsity?"

"Yea?" Emily replied curiously.

"So I actually have all three of my upper division classes with him."

Emily squealed. "Omg really?"

"Whoa."

"I heard that he was really cute," Emily said excitedly.

"I mean, I guess?"

"What do you mean you guess?" Emily pushed.

"I mean, I dunno, objectively speaking sure."

"So…you're not interested?"

"Jeez no," Amalia replied.

Emily just stared at her, clearing hoping for more of an explanation.

"He's really nice and friendly and we're partners in bio."

Emily continued to look at her.

Amalia laughed, "I'm just looking for friends at the moment."

Emily looked unconvinced.

"No, just friends, besides," she added as an afterthought "anyone who's interested in him is going to have to contend with a lot of other girls who think he's attractive."

"Oh," Emily said looking deflated.

Not wanting Emily to lose her earlier excitement, she added, "Maybe I can introduce you?"

Immediately Emily brightened. "Really? That would be amazing."

"Sure," she said with a grin.

A few minutes later, the teacher walked in and called for everyone to settle down.

X

Before she knew it, her first official day at Santo Padre Regional was over. For the most part, it had been good. She had really enjoyed theater, at first, the idea of emoting in front of thirty other students scared the hell out of her, but it soon became clear that no one took themselves too seriously.

Later, as he had promised, EZ found her out in front of the bio classroom and the two had walked to Lit together. She liked the teacher, he seemed nice but way too sincere to be teaching a bunch of DGAF high school students. However, their first assignment was analyzing a passage for Shakespeare so she was hopeful. EZ had given her shit about being a nerd, but she shot back once she realized that he was already taking diligent notes concerning the assignment and due date.

As the class was wrapping up however the teacher, Mr. Haley had asked her to stay for a moment. He had ended up talking to her for over forty-five minutes about how she was settling in and if she thought that, she could handle the upper division course work. Though she had tried to assure him that she would be fine, he had insisted and as ten minutes stretched to twenty and then to thirty, she realized that she would miss the bus.

Thus it was that she found herself walking home.

Thankfully, it was pretty much a straight shot from campus up the main street and then a few turns to their quiet cul-de-sac. She had paid attention to the route as she was running errands with Nana earlier in the summer and was grateful. As she stopped at a light to cross the street, she heard a honking sound behind her and someone calling her name. Turning in the direction, she scanned the cars. After a moment, an old model brown pick up pulled up alongside the curb. She was wary at first but as the car came to a stop next to her, she saw EZ's face lean over an older man in the driver's seat. "Hey!" EZ said, "Need a ride?"

"Hey," she said. "Sure!"

"Climb in."

Quickly, she walked around to the passenger side and got in as EZ slid over to the middle.

"Thanks!" Amalia said turning towards him.

"No problem," he said as the older man started the car and they merged into traffic.

"Oh hey, this is my pop's. Dad this is Amalia, she's in a few of my classes at school."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Reyes, I really appreciate the ride," she replied.

The older man offered her a slight nod.

"I thought you were taking the bus?" EZ inquired after a moment.

"I was," she said grimacing, "however my chat with Mr. Haley lasted almost forty-five minutes."

"Yikes," he said sympathetically.

"He wanted to double check that I could handle the course load."

"Hey pop," EZ said acknowledging his dad again, "Amalia's in 8th grade, but taking a few high school classes with me."

At this the older man looked at her fully, his gaze was not unkind, however, the critical assessment he gave her made her avert her eyes.

"She just moved here from San Diego," EZ continued. "She lives…" He stopped for a moment. "Come to think of it, where do you live?" He asked.

"Oh," Amalia replied, "I live with my Nana, Dora Sanchez."

"Abuelita Sanchez is your grandmother?" Mr. Reyes spoke for the first time.

"Ya," Amalia replied tucking her hair behind her ear.

"I thought she only had four grandkids?" Mr. Reyes questioned again.

"Um, it's a long story," she responded after meeting the man's eyes. Thankfully, he seemed satisfied with the explanation.

"You know," EZ said after a second, "that's the second time you've said that today."

Opening her mouth to respond, she was cut off before she could speak by Mr. Reyes. "So, how is Dora? She hasn't been by the shop in a few weeks." She caught Mr. Reyes eye before responding and offered a small smile, she had a sense that he could feel her discomfort with the subject of her move and had diverted the discussion away intentionally. He nodded in return before directing his attention back to the road.

"Good," Amalia responded.

The conversation drifted on for a few minutes while EZ explained that his dad owned the local meat shop in town and his mother was a preschool teacher's aid. Without instruction, Mr. Reyes navigated the few turns down their street, and before she knew it, his truck had parked in front of their modest home.

At the engine's rumble, the door opened and Dora shuffled out onto the front porch. "Mira is that you? I was getting worried, you were not on the bus" she called.

After a minute Mr. Reyes called out, "Hola Señora!"

"Mr. Reyes, hola! Como estas?"

"Bien," he responded as Amalia grabbed her books.

"Sorry, Nana! One of my teachers wanted to talk to me after class and I missed the bus," she explained.

"Aye, I hope you weren't in trouble on your first day Mira." Giving Amalia a critical look.

EZ chuckled before stepping up to her defense, "No, Abuelita, quite the opposite, she's very studious," he said seriously.

Amalia felt sure she could not be the only one that picked up on his sarcasm, however, Mr. Reyes did not seem fazed and Dora was beaming. "What did I tell you, Mira, eh? You would have a great day."

Amalia smiled,

"Ezekiel, you looking out for mi chica eh?" She asked, shooting EZ an assessing look.

"Yes, ma'am." He replied seriously.

Amalia bit back a snort, which brought what looked to be the beginnings of a grin to Mr. Reyes face.

"Good," Dora replied.

After the men offered their goodbyes, Mr. Reyes called out to Amalia before she disappeared into the house. "I take EZ to school every morning on my way to open the shop," he said. "We leave about forty-five minutes before the bus, but I'd be happy to take you too." He gave her a kind look.

She smiled at him tentatively, "that would be amazing," she said. "Thank you."

As she would learn to be his custom, Mr. Reyes just nodded in acknowledgment and headed for his truck.

Dora had been watching from just inside the screen door and smiled to herself, she knew her little one would thrive.

When Amalia finally entered, Dora was back in the kitchen setting the table, "So how was your first day Mira?"

"Good," Amalia said with a wide grin.

"You friends with the Reyes boy already?" she asked.

"Ya, I think so," Amalia replied absently, setting her backpack down in the hall.

"Felipe's boys are good kids," she replied. "Though that older one," she sighed, " aye he can be trouble."

"Huh, he didn't mention that he had a brother," Amalia responded with her head stuck in the fridge looking for the filter.

"You watch out for that eh?" She said glancing over at Amalia.

"Uh huh," she replied.

Dora just shook her head and moved to place the plates for dinner.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi all! Thank you for all for the support, much appreciated! There are a few easter eggs dropped in this chapter that will come up later in the story. Additionally, I promise that Angel will become a regular part of the story starting next chapter. Feedback and Reviews are life! XO

X

Her first full week of classes had flown by and before she knew it, it was Friday afternoon. Nana had agreed to let her spend the night at Emily's as long as her parents would be there. Amalia had assured her that they would and so Friday afternoon after school found her over at Emily's getting ready. They had a few hours to kill until the other girls came over and the two watched movies and chatted until 7 pm.

"So how long has your family lived in the area?" Amalia asked looking around her room.

"Pft, forever," she said with a grimace. "Sorry, TMI, but I'm pretty sure I was conceived in this house," she said with a laugh.

"Eww! Way more information about your parents than I need to know!" Shrieked Amalia covering her ears.

"What?" Emily looked at her straight-faced, "maybe I shouldn't tell you but I'm pretty sure that they have a better sex life than I will ever will."

"LALALALA" I can't hear you! Amalia pretended to retch.

"Like rabbits those two!" Emily was straight out cackling now, clearly enjoying Amalia's discomfort.

"OMG! Emily! How am I ever supposed to look your parents in the eyes again!" Amalia rubbed her hands over her eyes like she was physically trying to scrub the images from her brain. Seriously, though, how was she supposed to look at the demure Ms. Thomas and the jovial Mr. Thomas the same way? "Ugh gross!"

"That's what I want someday," Emily said suddenly. Her giggles having subsided.

"Ugh no please, I can't take anymore." Amalia pleaded.

"No, I mean, joking aside," Emily looked pensive. "I mean yea, it's freaking gross to think about, but I'd rather have my parents doing that than just existing together you know? Or worse, hating each other's guts."

"I guess…" Amalia still looked skeptical.

"I mean," Emily bit her lip continuing, "They're still in love after all this time...It's kinda cute and weird because they're my parents but they still have fun together. They do date night every week and every couple of months they go on weekend trips together. And they're not afraid to say 'I love you'."

Amalia looked at her thoughtfully, quirking her head to the side thinking.

Emily grinned suddenly, "you know you kind of look like a confused owl when you do that." She laughed.

"Seriously?" Amalia asked annoyed, her serious train of thought completely getting derailed by the comment. "Ya, it's kind of funny, your eyes get all big and you purse your lips like this," she proceeded to demonstrate her best quizzical impression.

"If I look anything like that," I seriously need to practice my facial motions.

"Rude." Emily chucked a pillow at her, which thankfully missed.

The two both laughed before Amalia got thoughtful again, "seriously though, about what you said before, about your parents. I get it; I'd like that too, someday too."

"I know, it's weird." Replied Emily after a second.

"No, it's not. I think it's important to know what you are looking for and realize the value you in it. There's a lot of bad things that can happen and keeping things in perspective is always good." Amalia offered her a smile that, if Emily had looked hard enough, would see did not quite reach her eyes.

"Hey, that reminds me, you never told me about your parents," thankfully Emily was distracted climbing to her feet and did not notice Amalia's face go slightly ashen.

However before she could respond with some evasive comment, they both heard the doorbell ring. "I'll get it!" Emily yelled at the top of her lungs dashing towards the door.

Saved by the bell, thought Amalia gratefully making her way downstairs.

X

An hour later, she was standing in front of Emily's bathroom mirror looking at herself, she felt ridiculous.

By the time that Letty and Sarah had arrived, she thought that they would be heading out the door. Star Wars Episode III had just come out and she thought that they would be in a hurry to catch the 7:30 showing. "It just came out," stated Emily matter-a-factly. "We'll see the 8:30 one; it's basically playing every hour. So what are you going to wear?"

"Uh," Amalia said looking down at the converse, jean shorts, and black tank top she was wearing. "This?" She said confused.

"You're not serious," said Letty smiling at her.

"What?" Amalia asked, truly confused.

"It's Friday night!" Said Sarah, as if she was supposed to suddenly understand its reverence.

"Yea, and we're going to the movies," she looked at them. "Where it's going to be dark," she looked at them again, faces still uncomprehending. "Where no one will see what we're wearing," she really tried hard to keep the 'duh' look off her face.

"Jeez, not for the movie genius," Emily said rolling her eyes. "For after!"

"Huh?" Amalia replied.

"My mom and dad go to bed early, and I told them that Letty's brother was going to give us a ride home." Emily looked positively devious.

"Thomas if you get me grounded so help me I will make your life difficult," replied Amalia looking her dead in the eye.

"Relax," Emily waved her off. "Now, what are you going to wear?"

"I'm guessing this is out?"

"Yea-huh", Emily responded turning towards her closet.

And that was how, approximately sixty minutes later Amalia found herself standing in front of Emily's mirror dressed in tight black skinny jeans, one of the clingy black tops that Sarah had brought over as an option, and thankfully her converse. Emily had insisted on ballet flats, but Amalia had refused stating that they pinched her feet and there was no way she was going to suffer stuffing both her ass and her feet into something that was two sizes too small. Emily had finally relented after she had forced Amalia to wear her hair down and put on some black eyeliner.

"Wow," Emily said looking at their combined handiwork. "I never realized how long your hair was," she said reaching out to finger comb a few curling strands that almost to the top of Amalia's jeans. "Kinda wish I hadn't cut mine before the start of the year."

"I guess, I don't really think about it all that much," replied Amalia assessing herself with a critical eye. Usually, she wore her long, red, hair in a thick braid down the back of her neck or up in a high bun.

"Is it naturally dark red like that?" Letty asked standing in front of the bathroom mirror putting on some mascara. "Or do you dye it?"

"All mine, courtesy of my mama's Russian/Irish heritage. I hated it when I was little, I got called carrot top for a few years in preschool," But after Kate Winslet in Titanic, no one gave me too crap."

"Huh," Sarah said, I can see that a bit. "Though, you are most definitely missing her boobs."

"Ha! None taken," replied Amalia. Contrary to what the ideal body type of the moment was, she was fine with her 34B chest. She was used to playing sports and the idea of having to wear two sports bras for any type of practice sounded miserable. "Ok," Amalia said glancing at the clock, "it's 8:15, can we at least try to see this movie?"

"I think we're good," Letty said stuffing some lip-gloss and mascara into her purse.

"Great!" Emily exclaimed heading for her bedroom door. "Mom!" She yelled as the girls proceeded to walk down the stairs, "We're going to head out!" As they gathered by the door, Ms. Thomas walked through from the kitchen to the foyer.

"You girls have fun," she said. "And Em, let me know when you get to the theater okay?"

"Fine," Emily said rolling her eyes.

"Hey," said Ms. Thomas with a frown, "I'm mom, I worry."

"Ok, ok," Emily said leaning forward to give her mom a quick peck on the cheek.

As the girls left the house, they turned down Emily's street and headed for Main Avenue. The movie theater was only a half mile from Emily's house and though it was the first week of September, the earlier scorching heat of the day and cooled a bit, leaving it balmy and warm outside. As they crossed the street, Amalia fell into step next to Letty.

"So did you decide whether or not you are going to go out for the volleyball team this year?" Letty inquired. She had been on the team last year as the team's libero and was hoping to get onto high school varsity next fall.

"Probably not," Amalia said after a minute. "I really want to go for soccer and I don't think that I'll be able to do both. Besides, I hear they run you like crazy during tryouts and I have to work on getting my endurance up."

"Girl," Letty said giving her side eye, "I've seen you in P.E., what the hell are you talking about."

Amalia laughed, "Ya, for a mile it's not a big deal, but I can't keep that up for two hours straight."

"Ya, ya, whatever," Letty smiled.

The group slowed as they waited on the corner of the street to cross onto Main, which would take them to the theater.

As they crossed from the relatively quiet side street onto Main, Amalia observed the groups of people milling about and the music blaring from the restaurants, bars, and shops that during the week was relatively quiet. The street came alive in a way that was completely different than what she had previously observed. The few outside patios were full and people were spilling out onto the sidewalks talking and smiling. A few even had drinks in their hands. It seemed like no one was in any particular hurry to get anywhere. "Is it always this crazy on Friday nights?" She asked falling into step beside Letty again.

"Huh," Letty said looking around. "Oh ya, I mean there's not much to do around here so people generally come out to Main and hang around for most of the night."

"Cool."

"So," Letty said looking at her slyly, "Tell me more about that cute Reyes kid you've been hanging out with."

"Omg stop," Amalia groaned. "Seriously, we're just friends," She said, placing emphasis on the word friends.

"Oh ya," Letty cocked an eyebrow "then why do you always catch a ride with him to school every morning huh?"

Rolling her eyes Amalia laughed, "Because his dad and my Nana are friends and it means I don't have to take the bus."

"Ya, whatever chica, I see you." Letty smirked.

Dodging around a few people, the girls stopped on the sidewalk a few blocks before the theater up ahead. As they waited to cross, Amalia heard a whistle. She was still talking to Letty and had not paid it any particular mind, however after a second; Letty nudged her lightly in ribs, "Hey girl, how do you know Coco?"

"What?" Following Letty's gaze, Amalia looked over at the crowded restaurant they were passing. The railing patio jutted out onto the sidewalk and leaning on it with a beer in his hands was the lanky guy known as Coco from earlier in the week.

"Ay, girl scout," he said with a smile tipping his beer at her "looking good."

"Coco, leave her alone," Letty said rolling her eyes.

"Eh sis, how's it?" He asked clearly indicating Letty.

"Good, you see Frankie yet?" Letty asked clearly comfortable with the guy.

"Got off late, he's inside with Angel grabbing another round," he said, tipping the Corona towards the bar.

"Tell him to call me. My friend's mom thinks he's taking us home later. I don't want him to screw it up."

"Stayin out of trouble?" he asked with a smirk.

"You know," Letty said rolling her eyes.

Just then, Amalia saw two guys and a woman separate themselves from the crush inside and make their way towards Coco. "Great," thought Amalia seeing the taller one. It was the asshole from earlier in the week at school. She saw them walking up before they saw the group of girls. The tall one was laughing jovially with another shorter dark-haired guy who Amalia did not recognize. As the two-edged closer, she saw that the tall one had his arm slung around the waist of a dark-haired brunette who might as well be attached to him with the way she clung on as they moved.

Glancing up at the approaching trio, Coco acknowledged Letty, "ask him yourself."

Letty rolled her eyes as Coco grinned.

"Hey, Frankie," Letty yelled trying to get his attention. "Frankie! Jesus, hey asshole!"

"What?" The guy named Frankie whipped his head in his sister's direction. "Oh, hey sis."

"You answer to that now eh?" Letty smirked raising an eyebrow.

Amalia bit back a snort, which caused the tall one with the permanently attached female to glance in her direction.

"Ey, gringa, you still lost or something? School's back that way," he casually gestured with his thumb indicating up the street. The brunette at his side scowled, clearly annoyed at not be the center of attention for the moment. Giving the girls a final once over, she began to nuzzle his neck, the words she whispered lost to the loud music.

Whatever she said certainly seemed to catch his attention, Amalia thought. She watched as he quirked his thick eyebrows at her and licked his lips.

Amalia rolled her eyes, a move not lost on the tall one. "Jealous gringa?" He smirked.

She could not help herself, "you learn how to count yet?" she asked sweetly.

Coco barked out a laugh as the tall one's eyes narrowed.

"Eh, yo Frankie," Letty spoke up again. "I told mama you're picking us up after the movie, don't screw this up!" She said pointing a finger in his direction.

He waved dismissively at her, "Stay out of trouble sis."

"Whatever," Letty said pulling Amalia along.

"See ya around girl scout!" Coco called as they retreated down the street.

Once they were out of earshot, Letty turned towards her. "How do you know Coco and Angel?"

"Huh?" Amalia queried looking at her.

"The guys back there."

"I don't," Amalia said honestly. "They gave me crap the first day of school because I got lost. Apparently, it's a pastime now." She frowned.

"Ha! Don't mind them," Letty said as they walked along.

"You guys seemed friendly," Amalia said curiously.

"The guy that's not tall and not Coco," Letty said, "That's my brother Frankie; he graduated a few years ago and works in a garage across town. The other guy with the chick basically on his dick is one of his buddies, Angel."

"Gotcha," Amalia said. I guess the asshole has a name she thought to herself. They were both silent for a moment before Amalia continued, "Question though…"

Letty looked at her expectantly.

"Emily said those guys were juniors, how the hell are they in bar?"

Letty laughed at her puzzled expression, "Girl, you got a lot to learn about this town."

Amalia raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.

Letty just rolled her eyes as the two caught up with Emily and Sarah who were already in line to buy tickets. "Frankie works security for the owner sometimes and he lets them in. No one really gives a shit."

"Hey guys!" Emily said over her should, "I'm going to go ahead and get four, just pay me back okay?"

"Great thanks!" Amalia said as she waited for Emily to finish up with Sarah.

After they reunited, they had just enough time to grab soda and popcorn and find their seats. The exchange outside the bar soon forgotten as they all settled in to watch the final saga taking place in a galaxy far, far, away…

X

"Meh," Emily said as the group left the theater. "I liked the second one better. This one was just sad."

"The story was pretty good," said Amalia, "But Hayden Christensen can't act to save his life."

The girls all snickered.

"At least he's hot!" Said Sarah. That garnered a round of agreement from all the girls except Amalia.

"What" asked Letty "you don't think so?"

"Eh, he's okay I guess," She responded non-committedly. "But his character, pft, way too much emotional baggage, nooooo thank you!"

"That's fixable," argued Sarah.

"Please," Amalia countered "yea right." She grinned. The conversation continued around the general notion of what constituted too much emotional baggage for a few minutes before Letty broke in, "So what exactly is the plan?" she asked looking expectantly at Emily. Three sets of eyes turned in her direction.

"Ok, so apparently there's this high school party across town?" Emily said looking at her phone. "I got a text about it halfway through the movie." Emily looked up with a wicked grin on her face, "down?" A chorus of enthusiastic 'yeahs!' immediately followed.

Amalia frowned.

"Oh come on," Emily said looking at her, "don't be such a buzz kill."

"I'm in," Amalia said after a moment, "just don't get me grounded."

"Deal." Emily replied slinging her arm around Amalia's shoulders.

X

A friend of Letty's had picked them up and driven them across town. As they pulled up, she could hear the music pounding from inside the house. As they opened the door, the smell of booze, sweat, and smoke immediately assailed their senses. Noticing Amalia's hesitation, Emily grabbed her arm and yanked her through the crush of people, "come on lighten up!" she said pulling her in the direction of the kitchen towards a large stockpile of booze.

"Shots!" Sarah yelled enthusiastically.

Letty looked at her friend doubtfully, "take it slow girlfriend," she responded, "you're a lightweight."

"Whatever," Sarah grumbled rolling her eyes and whipping her platinum hair over her shoulder.

As Emily passed out cups, Amalia glanced around, noticing a few familiar faces from some of her high school classes. She locked eyes with a tall blonde guy in the corner for a moment before smiling and glancing back to Emily. "To a great night!" Emily said lifting her cup with a wide grin. The girls all clanked cups and then threw the liquid back. Amalia was not sure what exactly Emily had poured, but as soon as it hit her tongue, she had to resist the urge to hurl. "Blah," she said shaking her head trying to get the taste of tequila out of her mouth.

"Letty!" she heard someone call over her shoulder. She watched as a stout guy pushed his way towards her friend. "Eh, Tommy, how's it?" Letty asked turning to give him a quick hug.

"Eh, sis isn't it past your bedtime?" He asked with a joking grin.

"Fuck you," she responded playfully.

"Who are your friends?" he asked tipping his chin to indicate the other girls.

"Sarah, Em, and this is Amalia," Letty said, naming them off one by one.

"Ey, ginger, I recognize you," he said looking at Amalia. "You're in Lit sixth period ya?" he asked.

"Tommy's dumbass failed Freshman lit, so he's retaking," Letty said with a smirk.

"Yea, with Haley," Amalia replied.

"Cool," he said taking a swig from his drink. "I get you some refills?"

"Sure!" Sarah giggled.

"Watch that one," Letty murmured eyeing Sarah.

"You let me know if you need anything," Tommy winked handing out four bottles of corona.

"Ya, ya, will do Tommy," Letty replied waving him off.

"Let's dance!" Emily yelled

X

That had been three hours earlier.

Eventually, Amalia had loosened up and after dancing and a few more drinks, she had really started to enjoy herself. She'd found her way over to a game of flip up and with her new found liquid courage had pushed her way in. She had lost track of Sarah and Letty, however, Emily had stayed in the living room and she could still see her every now and then in between the crush of people. During her second round of flip cup, she noticed that the blonde guy from earlier had sidled up next to her. "Hey!" he said after her team had lost its second game, "can I get you another drink?"

He's cute, she thought glancing up at him through lowered eyelashes. "Sure," she said with an overly enthusiastic grin.

Following him into the kitchen she leaned up against the counter as he poured, realizing distractedly that she needed a bit more support than she thought.

"You go to SPR too right?" He asked flashing her a lazy smile.

"Uh, yea."

"Thought I'd seen you around."

"Oh have you," she said flirtatiously. Where had that come from, she thought, embarrassed by the flirty tone.

"Ha," he grinned. "Guilty." He moved to position himself leaning against the counter opposite. "Your friends with EZ right?"

"Geez, you seem to know an awful lot about me," she said arching an eyebrow.

"Whoa, I'm not stalking you or anything," he laughed putting his hands up "we're on the football team together and I saw his dad pick you up a few times after practice."

"Ha," Amalia grinned "and here I thought I should be worried."

The two entered up talking for a while. She learned that his name was Davey and that he was a sophomore at Santo Padre Regional. When he asked what grade she was in, she had hedged. After some prodding, she had finally let slip that, she was still in 8th grade afraid that it would end the conversation right then and there, and for some reason, she was really hoping that it would not. At first, he had been a little shocked but they had continued talking and laughing and eventually she had lost track of time.

"You know," she said after a minute, "you really remind me of someone…," she said scrunching up her eyes.

"Ya, who?" he asked puffing out his chest.

"Hm," she tapped her chin pretending to look deep in thought.

With a grin, Davey put his arms out and spun in a circle, slightly losing his balance on the turn and knocking over a forgotten red cup on the counter.

"Well, frown really hard." She said trying not to giggle.

Davey complied, scrunching up his face.

"Yea," she continued with a smile. "And look really angst-y," she was working hard to hold in her laughter.

He tried to effectuate a pained expression with little success.

She continued to stare pretending to think really hard before her eyes got huge and she started laughing.

"What?" he asked losing the suave air he had tried to put on.

"Oh my god, you totally look like a blonde Hayden Christensen!" She said busting up.

"Hey, what's so funny about that?" He asked deflating slightly.

"Ha, no it's just, something from earlier." He did not seem to be buying it and she felt kind of bad.

Amalia pushed her self off the counter and walked the few steps over to him, "we saw Star Wars earlier and I was giving Hayden Christensen shit." Casually she reached her arm up and placed a hand on his arm for reassurance. Wow, that's nice, she thought absently.

"Yea, well…he's not so bad" Davey grumbled.

"Ha! Come on don't be upset" she offered a smile.

Suddenly, the mood shifted, as she became very aware of how close she was to him. Self-consciously she licked her lips. His eyes followed the movement.

"Hey, I…" he breathed leaning a bit closer.

She had just positioned her body facing him when a whoop and holler from the living room caught her attention. The mood broke and she pushed herself back from Davey embarrassed. He shook his head and grinned, the two smiled at each other stupidly before a loud round of cheers drew her attention. "What the?" Amalia glanced around him as she peered into the living room. There was a girl standing on top of the coffee table in the center of the room shaking everything that her mama had given her. A group of mostly males who were whooping and hollering egging her on surrounded her.

"Shit!" Amalia said. The platinum hair whipping from side to side and the short black skirt left no doubt in her mind; it was Sarah, clearly drunk and shaking it for all to see. Pushing past Davey, Amalia made her way into the living room seeing Emily trying to push her way through the group. Reaching her first Amalia turned her around. "Em, what the hell is she doing?"

"I don't know!" Emily screeched over the noise, "I swear to god I just turned my back for a second!"

"We need to get her down!"

"I know!" Emily yelled.

Glancing back to her friend Amalia muttered, "Shit." She was stilling trying to assess the best way to reach her when a male voice from the crowd yelled 'take it off!'

Sarah grinned drunkenly before reaching for the hem of her top, "no!" both Emily and Amalia yelled in unison. As a group, the two started shoving people out of the way. It was difficult to get to their friend but they resorted to kicking and elbowing and were eventually able to get in front of the table just as Sarah had her shirt up baring her midriff.

"Sarah, what the fuck!" Emily yelled.

"Oh hey, guys!" The clearly drunk blonde replied. "Isn't this fun!" She said her eyes glassy.

"Get down!" Amalia yelled.

"Hey," Sarah said after a second, the expression on her face changing suddenly. "I don't feel too good."

"Oh no," Emily said.

Reaching up the girls grabbed Sarah and yanked her down. "Hey," a male arm reached out drunkenly, "where are you going?" he asked, his glassy eyes having trouble focusing.

"Back the fuck up," a distinctly female voice yelled. "She's in eighth-grade, pervert!" The voice said shoving the arm back into the crowd. Amalia looked over her shoulder, grateful that Letty had finally made an appearance.

"Sorry," she said with a shrug. "I got distracted."

Emily noticed the hickey on her neck, "uh huh."

"Guys, I think I'm going to be sick." Sarah cried.

"Crap," Amalia yelled.

As one, the three dragged their friend out of the living and down the hall, making it to the bathroom just as Sarah hurled the liquid contents of her stomach into the toilet. "Aw, girl it's ok, let it out," Letty soothed crouching down to rub her back.

"We need to get her home," Amalia said after watching her retch.

"Uh, ya, about that, we may have a problem," Emily said looking sheepish.

"What?" Amalia deadpanned.

"I lost track of time and our ride may or may not have left an hour ago."

"What?" Amalia asked again.

"I'm sorry! He texted me like an hour and a half ago and I didn't notice." Emily said, "plus it's later than I realized."

"What time is it?" Amalia said reaching into her pocket to pick up her phone. Glancing at the screen, she saw that it was just after 3 AM. "Perfect," she said sarcastically, "now what?"

"Ugh," they heard from the toilet, "my mom's going to kill me," Sarah said moaning.

"Let me see if I can get ahold of Frankie," Letty said pulling out her phone.

After several minutes and multiple calls, she had no luck. "Are the buses still running?" Amalia asked.

"No," Emily grimaced, "they stop at midnight. Is there anyone else that could give us a ride?"

Amalia thought for a second, there was ONE person that she could call that would not result in her being grounded for a year. She was not sure what he could do but…"Ya, I might have something." Reaching into her pocket Amalia pulled out her phone and punched in the numbers.

After ringing for a few seconds a clearly sleepy voice mumbled something incoherent.

Cringing, Amalia ventured, "Uh, EZ?"

"Amalia?" The sleepy voice questioned. "What the…it's 3 in the morning?"

She let out a sigh, "ok, please don't hate me…"

"What?" he said, clearly more awake.

"I really need your help."

"Are you ok?" he asked, his voice sounding worried.

"Um, I'm fine, but um, well some friends and I are at…" she looked at Letty and mouthed 'whose house?' "Tommy Cardozo's," she whispered back before turning her attention back to Sarah.

"Uh, Tommy Cardozo's, and well, you see, the problem is that," The other end of the phone was silent.

"Look, my friend, Sarah is shit faced, our ride bailed, and I could really really use your help," she blurted out.

She did not hear anything for a few minutes.

"You. Owe. Me. Big. Time." Was all EZ said.

"Oh my god, you'll come?" She asked momentarily ecstatic.

"Big time." He said. After a moment, EZ spoke again, "I'll figure it out. Give me the address." She heard rustling over the phone as she passed it off to Letty to give him the address.

"You got us a ride!?" Emily asked.

"Ya, my friend EZ said he'd take care of it."

"What the cute Freshman?" Emily exclaimed looking worried.

"You got a better idea?" Amalia glared.

"No," she muttered. "Just not necessarily the best circumstances to meet under…"

After a second, Letty returned the phone back to Amalia. "You came in clutch girlfriend," Letty said from her position sitting on the edge of the tub.

Amalia grimaced.

Just then, a loud banging sounded on the other side of the door. "Fuck off! It's occupied," Letty yelled. "How long he say he'd be?" She asked as Sarah moaned again.

"Uh, not sure." Amalia said glancing down at her phone.

"Look, we need to move her outside ya?" Letty said "I think she's mostly done. Em, see if there are any trash bags under the sink."

"Yep," Emily said crouching down.

After fifteen minutes of wrangling and a concerted team effort, the girls managed to navigate the near passed out Sarah outside of the house just as her phone began to ring. "Hey, I'm just pulling up," EZ said over the line.

Looking down the street Amalia saw Felipe Reyes' brown truck heading toward the house."Yo is that him?" Letty asked hefting Sarah up.

"Yep," Amalia said, silently praying that he'd managed to figure out a ride that did not involve his dad or mom.

The trio moved Sarah down the sidewalk. As they approached the car EZ got out, "You owe me Kane."

"Wha.." she stopped after a moment. Staring between EZ and the clearly empty truck cab. "Did you drive here by yourself?" She yelled.

"Ya," he said with a scowl.

"Do you even have your learners permit yet?" She asked in disbelief.

"No," he grumbled.

She just stared at him. "What the hell EZ! You're going to get us arrested!"

"Like I said, I figured it out. Besides," he muttered, "getting arrested is nowhere near as bad as the whooping my dad will give me if he finds out."

"I thought that you were going to get a friend or your brother…or...or your dad to come!" She shriek.

"It's 3 o'clock in the freaking, my asshole of an older brother is probably passed out with a chick somewhere, and are you seriously going to tell me you want my dad finding out that you got drunk at a high school party?" He yelled back.

Blowing a strand of hair out of her face, she scowled "No."

"That's what I thought."

"Just help me get her into the car," he said moving to open the passenger side door. With Letty's help, he managed to get her inside the cab, and with a bit of wrangling they all squished in. EZ was silent for a few minutes, after Emily gave him her address, still clearly pissed.

"I'm sorry," Amalia whined after the silence had stretched on for ten minutes. "Please don't hate me."

Sighing EZ looked at her, "I don't hate you," he said after a minute. "I'm glad you called me rather than having some drunk ass from the party take you." he offered her a tight smile.

"I'm not stupid," Amalia, said frowning at him.

He cocked an eyebrow at her in response.

"Cute." She said.

"I'm just thinking of the most excruciating way that I can make you suffer."

"Great."

"So," he asked, "these your partners in crime?"

"Ha," she said sarcastically. "The one that's passed out is Sarah, this is Letty, and that's Em," she said indicating the girl squished next to him.

"Hi," he said not looking in their direction.

"Thanks," Emily said after a moment, "I really appreciate it."

"Yea, no problem," he said, his tone lightening up a bit as he responded to Emily.

"So," Emily said after a few minutes, "Amalia said you play football?"

Amalia rolled her eyes at her friend's blatant attempt to make conversation. She was WELL aware of the fact that he played football.

"Yea," he said checking the rearview mirror before glancing in her direction.

"Do you play any other sports?" She asked. "Amalia was just talking about going out for soccer," she continued."The conditioning sounds like torture though."

"Not going to lie, it's pretty terrible," he replied. "A lot more running than what they make us do in football, but pretty similar…" he stopped for a moment looking pensive before glancing in Amalia's direction.

"Hey Emily," he said after a moment, a grin spreading across his features. "You just gave me a great idea."

"Oh Jesus," Amalia muttered. "What?"

"So you guys have to do a lot of running right? Conditioning and season prep yea?" He asked innocently.

She did not like the look on his face one bit. "Yes, assuming that I even make the team."

"They must drill you guys pretty hard in tryouts right?" He said chuckling to himself.

Amalia narrowed her eyes. He was definitely going somewhere with this line of questioning and it was making her nervous.

"And tryouts are right after Thanksgiving right?"

"You know this, right after football season. Geez EZ what?" She asked annoyed.

"Emily here just helped me figure out how you can pay me back."

"What?" She asked glaring at Emily.

"You're going to do conditioning with me every week until your tryouts," he said grinning at her from ear to ear.

"What? Hell no!" She objected, "You have to run like twelve miles every Sunday, no freaking way!"

"You owe me big time. Plus I'd like the company."

"But…but Thanksgiving isn't for eight more weeks!" she whined, mentally calculating the number of days.

"I'm basically committing a felony to save your ass, and besides," he smirked "this way you'll be all set to kick ass at tryouts. So really I'm just looking out for you."

"EZ, come on," she tried one more time. "I'll do your homework for two weeks and write that Shakespeare analysis for lit.

"Nope," he said, "I think I like my idea better.

"Nooo," Amalia groaned.

"You say no again and I'll pull this car over."

"Ha, you won't actually make us walk home." She smirked. He was too nice, there was absolutely no way.

He just grinned and slammed on the breaks, sending all of them slamming against their seatbelts. "Eh, drunk chick back here!" Letty yelled as Sarah moaned.

"Jesus! Ok, Ok, fine! You win." Amalia yelped.

"Like you mean it," EZ smiled sweetly.

"I will condition with you every week until Thanksgiving." She muttered.

"Now promise, like you really mean it," he said as he checked his mirrors and merged back into traffic.

"I promise I will condition with you every week until Thanksgiving," she grumbled, already imagining the ensuing torture.

"Great! Thanks, Emily," EZ said flashing her friend a winning smile.

Emily just grinned back. "No problem."

Amalia's head whipped around to look at Emily.

"Oh," EZ added after a moment, "and you get to dissect the frog in bio next month."

Amalia's mouth fell open. "Like hell!"

"You owe me Kane," EZ smiled.

Emily snorted.

"Emily Thomas, so help me," she muttered glaring at her friend.

"Hey, you said not to get you grounded and I didn't!" Emily protested.

"This is worse!" Amalia yelled.

"Aw, come on," EZ said, "just think, you'll get to hang out with this pretty boy seven days a week."

"Bite me," Amalia grumbled slumping back into her seat.

She was not sure who she was more pissed at, EZ or Emily. So far, it was a tie.


End file.
